Chronomentrophobia
by Flywheel Shyster and Flywheel
Summary: It all started with a word and it all ended with a word; it's 1932 and Eddy McGee can finally rest at night knowing a debt to his best friend Double-D has been settled.


"I'll just have a coffee; black." The waitress nodded and left him before he had even finished his order. Why wouldn't she? He was there practically every night, at the same table, ordering the same thing, the same pad out in front of him, very rarely actually doing any writing. Routine.

What separated him from the rest of the people, mostly men with more money than they could count, that came into 'The Jawbreaker' was that he very rarely, if ever, gazed up at the small stage where the entertainment was provided. Had his best friend not owned the place, he probably never would've set foot in the place.

"Ladies and gentlemen; how are you feeling tonight?" He looked up briefly when the crowd responded with cheers and hoots, a small smile playing on his lips. While he hadn't quite agreed with the whole club idea at first, he couldn't deny that he was proud of his childhood friend for taking it further than the farthest. Eddy McGee had always been like that; if there was something he wanted, he easily found a way to get it.

"I said; how are you feeling tonight?" Hell, he himself was quite the proof of that; fresh in memory was the day they met.

* * *

_"Hey!" He looked up from the book he was reading to see that a shorter than average Irish kid had appeared in front of him. He had never actually met another child and was rather excited to see one roughly the same age as him, never mind that his clothes were tattered and dirtier than they should have been._

_"Salutations!" Eddy McGee knew the very second he saw that honest smile with the front teeth gap that this kid, he was gonna be his best friend._

_"Huh?" The newcomer scrunched his face up in confusion._

_"Uhm... Hello!" The honest smile became insecure for the slightest of moments before returning with full force._

_"Whatchu doing?"_

_"Oh, I was just doing some light reading!" He held up the thickest book, and so far the only book, Eddy had ever seen in his short life; twice the size of the kid reading it._

_"That sounds boring! Wanna play instead?" There was something in this kid's brutal honesty that really struck a chord with him; maybe it was because William, the family 'servant', had taught him the value of the truth in the corrupt world his parents were all too busy with._

_"I'm not allowed to leave this step..." That was true; even though his parents weren't around much, he could still feel their presence in his everyday life that had been modelled after their liking._

_"Screw that!" Eddy wasn't surprised when the kid dropped the book in shock and threw his hands up to his ears; he wasn't the first kid to react to his foul mouth. "You can't even walk around the yard?"_

_"No! A car could come!"_

_"That's right... A car _could _come!" He hadn't considered that. As a matter of fact, cars very rarely stopped in front of his house when his parents weren't in. "Come on, kid!" Before he could have another thought on the subject, Eddy had grabbed a hold of his hand and practically dragged him off the step. "See?"_

_"It's..." He threw an anxious glance at the front step, where he had spent many a lonely days, and the thick book lay open. "I've never been this far from the house alone..."_

_"Don't be silly!" Eddy threw an arm around his shoulders and grinned, a smile missing several teeth. "You're not alone, you got me! Now, do you know how to play tag?"_

* * *

To say that Eddy had been his saviour from a life of solitary was an understatement.

"Here you go, sweetie." The same waitress returned to his table and put an oversized cup in front of him.

"Thank you... Hannah." She smiled at his attempt to remember her name; he was most definitely her favourite regular.

"Anytime." She gave him a wink before returning to her waiting duties.

"Alright! We have a great-" He turned back to the pad in front of him, taking a sip of coffee before grabbing his trustworthy pen. He almost had it; the end to the story he'd been working on for as long as he could remember. Eddy had many a times tried to get him to stop writing 'the damn life consuming thing' in favour of other things but after actually reading the first draft, he couldn't have been more supportive of the book.

It wasn't anything special, it was just a tale that had always been there in the back of his mind whatever he did. He could thank his old friend William Patton for that.

* * *

_"Eddward?" He closed the door, carefully as always, behind him; eventually Eddy had to go home to eat dinner but not without promising that he would return the next day at the same time._

_"Yes, William?" It broke the man's heart to see little Eddward standing there in the hallway; an enormous grin on his face, clothes all ruffled up with visible stains here and there. But he also knew that the Mr. and Mrs.'s rath would be unrelentless if he didn't say something._

_"Who was your friend?" William got down on one knee to be able to talk to the boy eye to eye; he would've hated if Eddward grew up to see him as a figure of authority instead of a supportive friend. Who his parents employed but that was a different story._

_"His name is Eddy! He was really nice and taught me a new game; tag! Do you know it? I never knew there could be games of the physical sorts!" Never had he seen Eddward this worked up over anything and for the first time in the three years he had known the boy, he seemed... Happy._

_"Eddward..."_

_"He even gave me a nickname; Double-D! Because I have two Ds in my name! I think it's rather clever, wouldn't you say?" It was like the boy's smile broke through every principle he had ever had; he decided there and then to always do what was best for his young friend, even if it went against the very orders he weekly received from his employers._

_"It's really clever, indeed." William couldn't help but smile. "But Eddward, there is something we have to talk about." The boy's grin faltered; had he been bad? "No, no, no, you haven't done anything bad!"_

_"What is it then?"_

_"Well, you see..." Like he had been one of his own, William took a firm grip of the boy and hoisted him up into his arms; carrying him into the kitchen. He only did such a thing when the masters were out; they strongly looked down on the fact that parents carried their children when they could damn well walk themselves. "There are people in this world who doesn't like a lot of things."_

_"Like Mother and Father?" The man had stifle a chortle; this boy was way to smart for his own good._

_"In this case, unfortunately your Mother and Father." He set Eddward down by the table before finishing the lemonade he'd been making while the boys were playing in the yard. "And, in this case, there are also certain people they don't like."_

_"Like Eddy..." The look on the boy's face was enough for William to want to call the Mr. and Mrs. and give them a piece of his mind. Knowing that wouldn't end well for either party, he sat down next to the boy before pouring them both glasses of ice cold lemonade._

_"I'm afraid so."_

_"But why?" It didn't work together in Eddward's head; Eddy was a perfectly acceptable person, a bit on the foul mouthed side but he had heard Father use much worse words when something went wrong with work. "Eddy's my friend!"_

_"I know, Eddward. I know. But you see, there is a word that rich people use to separate themselves from the rest of the world. Class." He knew that word; it was his Father's favourite word to use when reading the morning paper, especially complaining about the lack of it. "And, if we lower ourselves to their level for a moment, Eddy is a completely different class."_

_"But why should that matter?"_

_"That's the thing; it doesn't!"_

_"I'm confused." The boy took the glass with both of his little hands and drank._

_"That's the world for you... Eddward, what I want said is that as long as you're with me, you can play with Eddy until the end of time. But when your Mother or Father are around, you cannot breathe a word about him or any of your activities. We would both be in a barrelfull of trouble. Do you see what I'm trying to tell you?"_

_"I think I do." Eddward set the glass down and nodded; Eddy was now his _secret_ friend that William and William alone could know about._

_"Good. Now, do you know what I just realized?"_

_"No?"_

_"We've completely forgotten about the word of the day!" The boy shone up; it was their little thing. William would tell him a complicated word and its meaning so all day, whenever they bumped into each other (for William had duties other than Eddward; not that he ever considered the boy a 'duty') he would repeat it back to his older and wiser friend._

_"We have!"_

_"Well, today's word is a very special one!"_

_"What is it? What is it?" Apart from Eddy McGee, William was always Eddward's best friend; the only adult he could be himself around without a strict set of rules to follow._

_"It is a word meaning... The fear of clocks. The fear of time."_

* * *

The word of that day changed his life, he became obsessed with it. As a matter of fact, he couldn't stop saying it for three weeks after first hearing it.

"Hey, Double-D!" He was pulled out of his thoughts, discovering that he had stared at the pad for quite some time without writing anything. Looking up, he saw his best friend make way towards his table.

"Evening, Eddy! Good turnout tonight!" The now slightly taller than average club owner slumped down in the chair opposite Double-D's.

"It probably has something to do with this next act I've got booked!" He rubbed his hands together and grinned.

"Oh, she's that good, huh?" Double-D knew from experience that the acts that drew crowds to 'The Jawbreaker' was more often than not women who were... More gifted than talented.

"I know I've said it in the past but this one..." He waved to a waitress by the bar who seemed to be by their table with a scotch and soda before he could even lower his arm. "How's the book coming along?"

"I don't know, there's still something missing in the end..." Eddy picked the pad up, without protests which was a first, and casually flicked through it.

"I couldn't tell you what it is if my life depended on it; I think it's absolutely per-"

"Eddy."

"Now, now, don't interrupt! This book is the best I've ever read; and it's not even finished yet! I mean-"

"Eddy."

"I'm serious! You're looking into this way too much, Double-D! Just send it in to the publisher's office and see what-"

"Eddy!"

"What?!"

"The stage has been empty for three minutes now." The man blinked twice before turning in his seat to see that the stage was very much empty indeed.

"I'll be darned, you're right." He turned back. "But seriously, just- Wait. That's my job!" Double-D could only sigh as his friend catapulted out of his seat, sprinting between tables and waitresses while trying to keep his drink upright. "Sorry, sorry, HEY, OUT OF THE WAY!" Taking a giant step up on a table, he leaped the small distance to the stage where he almost tackled the microphone to the ground. "Evening folks!"

"Heavens..." Double-D rolled his eyes and positioned the pad straight in front of him again, flipping up the blank page that was torturing him to no end.

"Now, I know y'all are really antsy to see this next lady!" Eddy, who had recovered quickly from his sprint by taking a big swig from his drink, looked off stage for a moment before smiling widely. "And you should be, she is absolutely amazing! So put your drinks down and your hands together for the newest addition to The Jawbreaker; Miss Marie!" In very mild curiosity, Double-D looked up at the dimly lit stage.

He never stopped.

From stage left came a woman unlike any other he had ever seen. It was impossible not to look at her, a single spotlight following her every move. A blue dress, sparkling like diamonds in the night sky, was draped so snugly around her body, you'd think she was born in it. But what caught his eye was the hair. Blue. Blue as the very dress she was wearing; he had never seen such a hair colour before. The long legs that never seemed to stop slowly made their way towards the front of the stage in the matching blue heels she was wearing. Double-D could feel his heart get more and more lodged in his throat with every beat the band played, meaning with every step she took. She opened her mouth just before she reached the microphone and he could have fainted right there and then when her husky voice played out over the locale and her words reached him.

_The fear of clocks. The fear of time._

No. It couldn't be. Was she- Was she singing... About _his _word?

What Double-D couldn't see, for he was much too occupied with gaping, was his best friend leaned against the band's piano looking at him with a satisfied smirk on his face.

He'd known, the very moment he laid eyes on Marie Kanker, that she was something special. Since she'd been employed, only a week before, she had indeed punched the doorman and slapped the shit out of three dancing girls but under the brash surface, Eddy had seen a missing puzzle piece; lost in life, lost in the world. She was probably the brightest girl to ever step onto that stage and not the worst looking one either.

He hadn't told Double-D of her straight away; he'd tried to introduce him to some girls in the past but he very rarely paid them much interest. Which is why he'd locked himself in his office every night since he first saw Marie, trying to write the perfect song of enchantment for her to sing; a daunting task seeing how Eddy had never written anything worth jack in his entire life.

_High as the cost of living  
I take what I've been given_  
_Pastor say, "Be strong,"  
Ooh yeah yeah hey_

Seeing his friend's eyes nearly fall out of his skull was confirmation enough; she definitely hit home plate. Eddy sighed, he was finally getting even from the personal debt he had carried with him for as long he could remember.

_I ain't got time leave me alone  
I ain't got much time left  
I've got to funk you now_

* * *

_"Merry Christmas, Eddy!" Double-D lowered the scarf from his mouth with a glove covered hand and grinned, his rosy cheeks glowing in the midwinter afternoon.  
_

_"Merry Christmas, Double-D! Here, I got you something!" Eddy, who always showed up outside Double-D's house at 1:30 p.m., went in his pocket and pulled out something small wrapped in an old newspaper. He tugged at the scarf his mom had given him only that morning; he hated clothes for Christmas but it was virtually the only time of year his wardrobe got updated.  
_

_"Why, I got you something too!" The young boy pulled out a neatly wrapped gift, bow on top and everything. Eddy grinned; he had never received a wrapped present before, in his house you would just hide things behind your back before they were given.  
_

_"Gee, thanks!" The difference in their upbringing was very noticeable in the way the two opened their respective gifts; Double-D carefully unfolded the newspaper to reveal his gift in contrast to Eddy who tore at the paper the best he could with his frozen gloves.  
_

_"Ooh!" Double-D's smile grew even wider when he saw the paper's contents; a simple red ball for bouncing. For the first time in his life, he didn't get a book but a toy! He looked up from his now favourite thing in the world to thank his friend thousandfold but halted when he saw Eddy's concerned face. "Eddy, what's wrong? Don't you like it?"  
_

_"I-" Eddy looked down at the bundle of paper kept together by a red leather cover in his hands.  
_

_"It's 'Huckleberry Finn'! I read through it the other night and realised that you are a spitting imagine of him!" The two famous works of Mark Twain were Double-D's favourite; the free lives of the titular characters was one that he longed for. He had received the two for his birthday earlier that year by William, in secret of course; his Father was not a fan of Mark Twain, often calling him a 'crackpot'. William had told him that for as long as he had the books to read, he would never develop the horrible 'fear of clocks and time'. Obviously, he didn't want Eddy to develop it either so it was only fair that he gave his friend one of the two books.  
_

_"I- I- Thanks." Double-D's heart fell when he heard the broken voice of his friend.  
_

_"Is there something wrong with it? Do you already have it?" Eddy finally tore his eyes from the front page letters and when he saw the devastated face of his best friend in the whole world, he knew he had to share his terrible secret.  
_

_"It's not that, it's just..." He quickly mumbled the last part.  
_

_"Pardon?"  
_

_"I don't know how to read!" The statement hung heavy in the air around the two friends. When Double-D just stared, he feared that he was about to get laughed at. It had happened before; that and the fact that the McGee household was rather poor made him a perfect target for ridicule from other kids. It hadn't even faced him at first but when it happened one time too many, it started to slowly eat its way into his confidence.  
_

_"You... Don't know how to read?" Double-D blinked several times, trying to comprehend what had been said. He automatically thought that everyone knew how to read and write, he certainly knew he had known how to since the day he could walk by himself.  
_

_"No." The McGee's head hung low in shame; this was it. The moment he had feared for so long. His best friend was going to laugh in his face, call him names and confirm what he had been thinking all along; a rich kid like Double-D just couldn't be friends with a lowlife like Eddy.  
_

_Double-D did laugh. But not in the cold, mocking way Eddy was used to, quite the opposite. It was the most carefree sound he had ever heard.  
_

_"It's nothing to be ashamed of; quite the opposite! We all have to start somewhere! For instance, remember the very first time we went tree climbing?" He nodded; it took them an hour just to get Double-D into the tree and over three hours to get him out of it. "I had never thought twice about climbing a tree before and I was absolutely awful at it!"  
_

_"You were pretty bad..." Double-D smiled; he knew his words were starting to take effect._

_"Then look at me today! I can almost keep up with you!" Eddy snickered, his friend had come a long way in the tree climbing business. "So if you want to, it would be my honour to teach you how to read!"_

_"Really?" The shorter of the two was quite surprised at the proposition; he wasn't accustomed to favours. His old man told him quite often that nothing in this world is free. "You would do that?"_

_"Of course!"_

_"You know I can't... You know, pay or anything?"_

_"I could never accept money for our acquaintanceship! What else are friends for?"_

* * *

Everything he was, everything he had learned over the years came from the fact that Double-D took time out to teach him how to read and later write at a rather young age. Double-D would never know just how grateful he was for it; in his eyes, he was forever indebted to his best friend for changing his entire existence.

He snapped out of the memory at the sound of thunderous applause; the song was over. Motioning Marie to come over, he glanced at Double-D who was not only applauding the loudest but standing as well, looking like he might fall over at any moment.

Oh yeah, he was definitely getting even tonight.

"You were fantastic! They loved you!" She was positively glowing; you could tell she had just experienced the greatest of her life.

"Couldn't have done it without your song, McGee!" He moved in for a quick embrace before glancing over at Double-D where he was staring lifelessly at them from his table.

"So, you ready to meet him?" He had pointed out Double-D a couple of nights earlier and she had been lovestruck at first sight, almost tackling the club owner to run out and take claims on him before someone else had the chance.

"Am I ever?" She didn't want her new boss to know it but she was nervous. More nervous than she'd been just before entering the stage. He just grinned reassuringly and grabbed her hand, leading her through the masses of oogling men throwing compliments at her like it was rain.

"Double-D?" Said man almost fainted when Eddy reached his table. "This is Marie, Marie Kanker."

"P-p-pleasure." He had absolutely no idea where the nervous stutter had come from but he certainly feared it was there to stay.

"Marie, this is Eddward Benjamin."

"Pleasure is mine." She smiled warmly, mentally pulling the wings off of any and all butterflies fluttering around like mad inside her.

"Well, I'm needed on the stage again! Orders are on the house, you crazy kids!" Eddy squeezed Marie's shoulders and threw his friend a quick wink before heading back to the stage, quite pleased with himself.

"Y-y-your song was... Quite p-p-pleasant." With the blue haired wonder now sitting in front of him, Double-D found that he couldn't even behave like a human being anymore. Aside from the crazy stutter, he was shaking like mad and he felt like his left eye was twitching.

"Thank you... Double-D." Her smile grew sly and he felt his whole face heat up in the most ferocious blush he had ever experienced.

"I-it's a n-nickname Eddy insists on, t-two Ds in Eddward."

"I like it." He didn't know if he was looking at her or not, he wasn't even sure if he was still sitting there; it was starting to feel like his brain had jumped ship to let this nervous wreck of a man deal with the woman on the opposite side of the table. "Eddy tells me you're a writer."

"I t-try to."

"Working on something right now?" She glanced at the pad resting on the table but stopped her first impulse to grab it. '_Calm down, Marie; you can't be too forward when he's this nervous, you'll scare him!_'

"It's... It's- Uh- a b-book; the only b-book I've ever w-worked on."

"What's it about?"

"Uhm-" There was something in the genuine interest that her question radiated that calmed him down a little. "It's about... L-love. T-time. There are... Uhm, there is a young m-man who finally sums up the courage to ask out the g-girl of his dreams whom he's known for quite some t-time. Unfortunately, he- Ehrr- he finds out, after about two years together that- Uhm- he has cancer and only a very limited amount of time left in this lifetime." He found himself rambling like a madman and stopped, only to see that she was hanging onto his every word.

"It sounds... Beautiful." Her voice was barely that of a whisper; that he would be writing something so serious, she never could have imagined.

"Thank you, Marie." He bowed his head and scratched the back of it; he still wasn't used to compliments from people other than Eddy. "Unfortunately, I still think there is something missing at the end of the story."

"What do you think it is?"

"I- I have absolutely no idea. There is a- a sort of raw emotion missing. You see- Actually, I know you haven't read the whole thing but would you mind just reading the last couple of pages here and tell me what you think? Only if you don't mind!" The twitching, shaking and the stutter was long gone; he was a lot more comfortable now than a moment ago.

"I'd love to." She stood up and moved her chair next to his where he scooted over to give her some room.

"Now, here-" He flipped through the pad, finding the pages in question. "Here is the very last chapter told through his perspective. He's in the hospital for the final time and they both know that it's only a matter of minutes." She leaned over and started to read from the pad, not even bothering to move it closer.

Eddy McGee, the owner of 'The Jawbreaker', was once again leaning against the piano he'd had nailed down; just for the purpose of leaning against it. He smirked to himself, seeing his best friend enthusiastically talking to Marie about his book. There was only one way into Double-D's life and Eddy had given her the map to it.

"Hey, babe; my shift's finally over." He turned his head to see his wife, the head waitress of 'The Jawbreaker' (she had threatened him with the frying pan when he suggested she quit since he made enough dough for their little family), sashay over to him. She kissed his smiling lips before leaning into him, looking over at Double-D. "What was it that got those two together? I doubt it was something Double-D did!"

"Fear." Eddy smiled to himself at just how wrong his wife was; this one was _all _Double-D, down to the roots.

"So one of your scams finally worked, huh?"

"I wouldn't call it a scam this time, sugar; call it... Cupid's Arrow." She playfully slapped his chest.

"You're going soft!" This hit a chord with the man who gently grabbed his wife's shoulders and held her at an armslength.

"I'm going- Hells no, woman; I am NOT going soft! I am just as ferocious as I was ten years ago!"

"Admit it, you've become a big old softie!"

"I could go out there right now and scam the oldest lady there is!"

"Uh-huh, after helping her across the street of course!"

For you see, this is the way of love. It can bicker, it can burn and it can hurt. But real love, true love, lasts longer than the average human lifetime. True love withstands every test of time; something Eddward 'Double-D' Benjamin became aware of when he worriedly asked the tear eyed Marie Kanker:

"What do you think?"

No words escaped her lips as her response was that of a whole different kind. She knew, the very moment she laid eyes upon the last punctuation, that this and no other was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life and beyond with.

Once, long ago, under the cherry blossom trees Mrs. Benjamin was so charmed with, Double-D Benjamin taught his best friend Eddy McGee to read and write. In return, Double-D was now sitting in Eddy's very own club, 'The Jawbreaker', kissing the newly found love of his life Marie Kanker over a simple pad containing the story with the only title his book could ever have; the very word a dear friend once taught him, to which he now owed his very life.


End file.
